ANSC Science Class

I had been hearing a lot of good things about the Austin Nature and Science Center Home School classes, so I tried to register as soon as they opened up this year. Unfortunately, Regan only made it to the wait list for most of the classes, but Riley made it into all of them. The first one was called "Many Legs" where they got to study animals with...you guessed it, many legs! They first spent some time outside with nets looking for bugs they could get a closer look at with the microscopes. Then they went around to the creek and used some nets to look in the water, and then went to the classroom where they got to see tarantula's, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and other creepy crawlies. Regan was able to make it in, I guess with flu season in full force, and we were there with Riley anyway, they had an opening for her. She wasn't too thrilled at first, but they both had an awesome time. They will have one class each month, and they can't wait for the next one.

Houseful of Sickies

Well it's been a very boring, unproductive week to say the least. Thankfully we didn't have a lot on our plate this week. On Tuesday David and Riley started feeling icky, Riley still pushed through and went to gymnastics, but felt worse afterwards. David had a dentist appt on Wednesday, I had one on Thursday, so we switched off, hoping he would feel better by the next day, and he did. They also wanted me back the next day for a cleaning, so we all went to the dentist, then went to lunch after, and I think that did us all in. We were exhausted and by then I wasn't feeling great either. But so far it's been pretty mild, just a mild fever, body aches and sore throat. Regan, as usual, isn't sick at all, so thankfully her Mimi came and got her for a few hours of girl time. She was so bored yesterday after several days of us just laying around, and the neighbors are sick too, so she can't go there anymore. I'm hoping we kick it for good here SOON!

Ice Hockey?

Riley wants to do everything. He's in gymnastics 6 hours a week, and piano lessons, and he wants to add guitar lessons, tackle football, and ice hockey. And plenty more, but that's just what he's bugging us about this week. So I finally signed him up for a try-it hockey class and of course, he's hooked (in the green hoody). I don't know how in the world we would fit in anything else right now, especially when he wants to do it all and Regan wants to do nothing, and we're still trying to find her "thing".

16th Anniversary

Wow, it makes me feel old to say that, but we've been married for 16 years! We didn't do much to celebrate, we'll make up for it in a few weeks, but Riley spent the night with a friend, so we had Regan, and ended up eating dinner at Freddy's Frozen Custard, which is yum, but then we were all pretty tired so we went home, curled up in our bed and watched a movie with Reganater. It was nice, and low key, and a perfect ending to a busy day.

Nature Walk and Splash Exhibit

Nature Walk

We joined a Nature Explorers group to go on hikes and learn about nature and animals. This week we were going to learn about animal tracks and see if we could identify animals by their footprints or "scat" which the kids were thrilled about. But, the location for this week was WAY on the other side of town, way farther than I thought, so we got there late, and did our own nature walk. The kids had a great time, but I think the only scat we saw was of the dog variety. But we sat on some rocks, the kids sketched some birds, trees, and other animals, they saw several beetles, admired the view, and just sat quietly and enjoyed nature for a while. It was a nice alternative to the chatty-Regan that I usually have!

After that, we headed to Zilker Park, I saw a Splash Exhibit that honestly I've never even noticed before! We went in there and learned about the Edwards Aquifer and the Barton Springs Salamander. For such a small space, they had some neat exhibits and hands on experiments that the kids enjoyed doing. And of course, we headed to the playscape for a bit before Regan begged for lunch at TacoDeli. And who am I to refuse TacoDeli! I love this homeschooling stuff...

Texas State History Museum

It was home school day at the Texas State History Museum, and our first time to participate in that and it was awesome! Of course, I love that place anyway, I am nothing if not a proud Texan! But they had a lot of activity sheets that they handed out and packets of questions to ask the kids as you walk through the exhibits. We saw Under the Sea in 3D at the IMAX, which was incredible. And we watched the Spirit of Texas, a 4D movie all about the history of Texas, and that one is a lot of fun. As they talk about the hurricane that destroyed Galveston, it actually thunders, lightnings, and "rains" in the theater. It's fun to laugh when the "snakes" jump out and scare everyone!

Pyramids and Pools

David has been telling me I have no friends. Which isn't true at all because I have almost 200 Facebook friends! But, he wants me to get out and meet people, which honestly isn't my strong suit. But, I joined a "Mommy & Me" slash "Homeschool" small group at church. So far there is only one other home school mom there, but hopefully it will grow. We met at a neighborhood pool, and the kids got to play, they found a crawfish in the baby pool, and they thought that was cool.

And in school right now, we're learning about the Egyptians and the Pyramids, how they were built, etc. We got to build our very own pyramids out of sugar cubes. This was a fun lesson, but they kept trying to eat their pyramids.

Make It Eat It

It was our first night back at Brownies, and the girls made their own dinner, Sloppy Joe's, sliced fruit, with stuffed apples for dessert. They had a great time, served the moms, got to eat outside, and they earned a new Try-It for the quickly filling up vest!

Skate Park

I took Riley to the skate park, we were going to meet up with a home school group there, with older boys so he could meet some other kids his age that home school. Only one other family showed up though because of all the rain we had, but it turned out to be really nice, overcast, cool, a perfect day at the skate park! He wore his old rollerblades, and I didn't think about it, but as soon as we left, he took them off and he had HUGE blisters on the side of his feet. So now he's been googling rollerblades and found some nice $200 ones that he wants! That boy wants to do everything! But, this will probably be a weekly thing, at least while the weather is nicer, and next time he's going to bring his skateboard, and hope he can get better on that.

Happy Birthday to Me!

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, David got up early and smoked a huge brisket and 2 pork shoulders. We had the Shenkin's and the Fry's over, one last get together before Pam and Dave headed off to Amsterdam. Then on Sunday we went over to the Turner's for a block party and had a great time there, with the street closed off so the kids could take over, and they got to swim in the neighbor's pool, and wear themselves out good!

Then Labor Day was my 38th Birthday. Kenzie came by to see me, and then the Shenkin's came by and brought me a super chocolatey birthday cake (David was making some barbeque sauce in the background):


Regan, Sydney and Merissa, chillin and waiting for some cake:


My flowers from David, these are actually my favorite flowers in the whole world, and he didn't know, I guess after nearly 16 years of marriage, you get to know a person!:


And Matt got me a gift card to Border's which I used to buy the Beatles Rock Band, so I can't wait to jam out with John, Paul, George and Ringo!! It was a very happy birthday!

Pioneer Farm

I took the kids to Pioneer Farm for home school day. There weren't a whole lot of people there, and I thought since the temperature was supposed to be in the upper 80's, it would be nice out for a change. I was wrong! It was so humid, it didn't feel much different from our recent over-100 degree weather. But, the kids enjoyed the field trip, we learned about the early settlers in our area and I think it's funny, and so typical of my kids, that Riley found the stilts and was happy, Regan found the animals, and was happy! Riley is a dare devil and wants to try everything, while Regan is content to hang out with all the animals and pet/feed/take care of them.

We had a good time though, and look forward to many more field trips!

Cuneiform

This is Regan and Riley's name in Cuneiform, on clay tablets. We're talking about the Ancient Egyptians, and how they had to write by either carving words in stone, or rolling out clay and "writing" on them. They had fun mashing the clay around, and rolling it out, even though they did admit it was a lot of work if they wanted to pass notes around in school or something! (Regan's is on the top, Riley's on the bottom)